GS Workshop Faculty

Lead instructor:

Janelle Durham, MSW, has been a Great Starts childbirth educator since 2001, and has led our trainings since 2004. Janelle is a certified doula (CD) and a childbirth educator (certified with Great Starts, ICEA, and Lamaze) and a parent educator for Bellevue College. She has also attended trainings for birth professionals offered by Lamaze, ICEA, CAPPA, ALACE, Birthing from Within, Seattle Midwifery School, Evergreen Perinatal Associates, MotherWoman, and more, and brings the best ideas from all these trainings to our workshop. Janelle is a co-author of Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn, and the Simple Guide to having a baby. Janelle is also the author of Transition to Parenthood, a website with resources for childbirth educators, and More Good Days, a blog for parents of children age 1 to 5, and the professionals who work with them.

Additional speakers:

Penny Simkin, PT, Great Starts Childbirth Educator since 1968, Doula, Author, International Lecturer, Author of Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn, 4 other books, and numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals.